[Bushbacker]

SSaddam was a corrupt man with an evil cause, Arafat was a corrupt
,am with a cause that had some merit to it---Palestinian statehood (so says our President and I am a Bushbacker)..enough to justify a certain amount of deference to the cause if not to the man himself.

[Mr. Mojo]

Arafat was a corrupt man with a cause that had some merit to it---Palestinian statehood

If Arafat wanted Palestinian statehood he would accepted the Barak/Clinton deal -- an incredible deal (for the Palestinians) that's never likely to be presented again. This rejection led rational people to conclude that Arafat didn't want either peace or a Palestinian state (unless it was built upon the dead bodies of every Jew in Israel), but a perpetual state of war.

Merit to his cause? Only if one sympathizes with terrorists.